In few days, – 6 days – The Final New Version of Ubuntu (10.04) is going to be released for public .

Ubuntu has announced The Release Candidate of 10.04 LTS Version Yesterday which is the final step before It becomes final.

New Features

Ubuntu 10.04 shows some interesting new features . For The New Desktop Features, Ubuntu 10.04 now has a built-in integration with Social Networks Like Twitter, Facebook, Identi.ca and other social networks . With Change is coming title, Ubuntu changes the desktop design with a better one , cleaner and faster boot, notifications, themes , icons and I cannot forget some awesome wallpapers .

While Downloading Updates, Language Files for Installing your system, You can skip them ! Yes It’s now an option to skip downloading those updates .

Now you will find more Breadcrumbs while navigating your system and the Ubuntu Software Center .

This is a good start for Change , We always Need change in our life , and our OS too .

Help Ubuntu with Spreading The word about The New Version .

If you’re ubuntu newbie and got such a problem, You will be totally depressed and you would re-install ubuntu again and lose all your data . This issue has been discovered few days ago after updating linux kernel to 2.6.31-16 which delete grub files and you cannot boot into your ubuntu .

Here’s How to Fix this issue – (Source :Ubuntu Forums) :

For Windows Vista/Seven

sh:grub>set root=(loop0)sh:grub>linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda2 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk rosh:grub>initrd /boot/initrd.img-2.6.31-14-genericsh:grub>boot

Note that You would replace sda2 with if you have more partitions so If It didn’t boot with sda2, try sda3, sda4 or sda5

For Windows ME/XP

sh:grub>set root=(loop0)sh:grub>linux /boot/vmlinuz-2.6.31-14-generic root=/dev/sda1 loop=/ubuntu/disks/root.disk rosh:grub>initrd /boot/initrd.img-26.31-14-genericsh:grub>boot

If you managed to boot into ubuntu, Go To Update Manager and Get GRUB Updates .
You would also have to re-install Linux Kernel Image for 2.6.31-16 again as It may not boot into your ubuntu .

Since September, I’ve been waiting for the Final Release of Ubuntu 9.10 which was pushed out yesterday night. I’ve already used Ubuntu 9.10 Beta but I never loved those unstable version for any OS.

Issues with Dell Computers have been resolved in Ubuntu 9.10 which is the best news for all Dell users just like me .

In General, There are no big changes with 9.10 but a few changes were important to add more creativity to how Ubuntu look like to its users like Ubuntu Software Center (Previously Add/Remove) .

You Can Download Ubuntu Karmic Koala via Direct Link or Torrent which is better for now . I believe lots of users are going to update their Ubuntu in the current few coming days .

Lifehacker : Ubuntu 9.10 Karmic Koala Out Now
Lifehacker : First Look at Ubuntu Karmic Koala Beta

I got a comment before that I don’t explain to users to give them a full experience .. Again I’m not doing that .. Nobody can do a full guide to help people in a single post .

In this post I’ll show how to start developing and design your projects on Ubuntu If you’re moving from Windows ..

Installing LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP)

I previously mentioned in a post how to install Apache, PHP and MySQL on Linux with easy steps to do that .
Also there’s an easy way to do that by installing all the package at once (Thanks to Shady) using tasksel . Open a Terminal and type the following command :

sudo tasksel install lamp-server

Then you can go to your localhost url (http://localhost or http://127.0.0.1)

Tools to use

Same like all designers used to do on a windows, You need applications to design, develop, code and preview your projects .

Editors

There are many editors to edit project files, so you can use your default GNOME Text Editor (gedit) and do some enhancement like enable highlighting, line numbers and Installing Extra Plugins using the following command :

sudo apt-get install gedit-plugins

Aptana Studio is a great editor to develop most of programming languages projects like php, Ruby on Rails, python, Ajax, Jaxer, html, css . This Gudie would help you downloading and Installing Aptana Studio in few easy steps . It would allow you also to connect to FTP Server, Edit files online which I think is a great tool .

Aptana Also provides a set of Plugins that would help more to get your projects more exciting and offer you other features with simple steps like ASP.NET Ajax, Prototype Framework, Mootools. You would fine other external plugins by developers for Drupal, Joomla or WordPress .

Browsers

It’s one of the most important developer tools, You will need to preview your projects on most browsers available. Thanks to Open Source and freeware projects, We can preview our projects on Ubuntu using Firefox, Chrmoium (Google Chrome), Opera and You can also view your website on IE inside Ubuntu Thanks to Wine, Check this guide on How to get IE7 on Wine and you can also get a windows inside Ubuntu using VirtualBox, Check this out

Graphic Editors

Adobe Photoshop is the leading Graphic and Photo editor in the world and It’s just available on Windows and Mac, But there are other alternatives to do your graphic designs on Ubuntu . One of them is Using GIMP, an open-source photo and graphic editor for Linux/Unix which is installed by default in known linux distributions and Ubuntu for sure .

If you got used to Adobe Photoshop, You would try Installing Photoshop on Wine . New Versions of Photoshop Like CS4 or CS3 is very hard to be installed on Wine So You might try doing that with CS or CS2 , or You can try finding a cracked portable version of Photoshop CS or CS2 which will work perfectly just like what you see on Windows or Mac .

KDE Users

I never ever used KDE Interface before to develop a project, I don’t say KDE is a bad choice but I prefer having GNOME on my computer or laptop . For KDE users, You can use Aptana Studio like what I said before, and also You may try using NetBeans which is another open-source java based IDE and works with Windows, Mac and Linux just like Aptana Studio. And you can use KWriter to do your simple edits .

Note

As I’m an Arab and I work on Multilingual Projects for Clients, I’ve chosen all the previous recommendations which is working for any language perfectly and you won’t get annoyed with getting an application which doesn’t support a specific characters like Arabic or Chinese.

That was just a starter guide, you would discover much more than what I wrote here .. but sometimes newbies need a simple guide .

Resources

How To Develop Websites on Linux

Sometimes we would face a problem with displaying flash and video players based on flash while using Ubuntu. Most of times It’s because flash plugins were installed wrongly.

To Remove old plugins, We should Go to System > Administration > Synaptic Package Manager and type Flash in Quick Search form . You then would find some installed plugins (Checked Packages) .. All you have to do is to right click those checked packages and Mark them for Complete Removal .

After Removing them, It’s better to reboot your system, and then we can install flash plugin the right way :

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

If It was Installed the same way like that, then you won’t need to do that .

You Would also like to check How to enable Flash in Chromium Browser By Rami Taibah .

Maybe I don’t have that great experience with ubuntu as I just started to use it for almost a year but I really enjoyed every moment I use it whether for entertainment or Developing or General Stuff .

And That little time gave me a chance to explore this OS which is really for human beings .. I cannot say I gave up using Windows because I have to use it for doing work for clients but most of times I try to find alternatives to use on Ubuntu . And I’ll Show some resources to help moving to Ubuntu .. If you’re a developer or just a user, I’ll start to write about moving to Ubuntu for a newbie to be a well-experienced ubuntu user.

How to Start Moving to Ubuntu

Most of people who think to move to ubuntu are Windows users, People who have Mac would never think to move to Ubuntu I guess .. so You will need to have an Ubuntu CD . You can just download the ISO file and burn it on a CD or you can request a free CD which will be delivered to you by mail in about 2 weeks . Installation is too easy if you are a windows user, It will show you an option to install with Windows but you will need to create a partition on your HDD to put Ubuntu System files on . I would recommend a 10 or 15 GB Partition for Installing Ubuntu .

It will take less than 30 minutes to copy system files and start to install it without bothering you with any details or serials or Drivers to install. and then you can easily login with your username and password you entered while starting to install it .

Congratulations ! You have Ubuntu Installed and you still have Windows in case you didn’t like it, but You Will =)

Installing Applications

There are different kinds of applications like any OS .. You will find tools to help you using ubuntu , Applications to Connect to Internet and surf the web like Firefox and Pidgin (All-in-one IM App), Evolution Mail (Desktop Mail Client) .

To Install Applications, All You have to do is Go To Applications Menu > Add/Remove and Look Search in “All Available Application” about what you look for and It will help you install it (Media Apps, Graphics, Internet , Office, Games …) .

Another way to install apps you find through Terminal Commands ..You should find the package you need to install via web and install it. If we wanted to install Firefox 3.5 for example we can open Terminal by going to Applications > Accessories > Terminal , and insert the following command :

sudo apt-get install firefox-3.5

The 3rd way to Install Applications is using DEB installers which will install Applications like If you’re installing an application on Windows and won’t annoy you with anything , You can Find Deb Installers for most Apps for Ubuntu on GetDeb Website

Other Resources to help you find applications :

• Top 10 Ubuntu applications
• Top 100 of the Best (Useful) OpenSource Applications
• How to install Adobe Flash Player 10
• Top 10 Downloads for Ubuntu 9.04
• The five best, new things in Ubuntu Linux 9.04

Installing LAMP

LAMP Means Linux,Apache, MySQL, PHP .. It’s very to easy to have your localhost on Ubuntu with Very simple commands:

Installing Apache

Type this command in terminal to install Apache :

sudo apt-get install apache2

Terminal will ask you to enter your password (Sudo order needs Administration Authorization always).
Then You can test your apache server once the installation is done by going to your localhost via web browser (http://localhost) , If you get the message It works! then It was installed Successfully .

Your localhost folder will be in this location (/var/www). If you need to get rid of authorization every time you need to copy or paste in this folder you can change its permission just like that :

sudo chmod 777 /var/www/

Installing PHP

Just like Apache, You’ll need to insert this command in terminal :

sudo apt-get install php5 libapache2-mod-php5

After PHP Installation is done you need to restart your apache via terminal :

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

The You can test your php by creating a file.php and test php info so we first create the file and edit it :

sudo gedit /var/www/testphp.php

and then type this code inside the file and save it :

<?php phpinfo(); ?>

Now Open this file in your web browser : http://localhost/testphp.php

Installing MySQL

Installing MySQL could be a bit complicated but won’t take couple minutes :

sudo apt-get install mysql-server

While Installing MySQL & After downloading files It will ask you to enter your MySQL Password twice, so keep it in your mind as you will use it to connect to database in your projects .. just like Any Server

And then we need to configure php with MySQL and Install phpMyAdmin to control our databases:

sudo apt-get install libapache2-mod-auth-mysql php5-mysql phpmyadmin

Then You need to restart Apache again and test your localhost with some PHP/MySQL Script

sudo /etc/init.d/apache2 restart

This article via Ricardo Cappellano (Smashing Magazine) is one of the most useful articles to help you develop websites on Linux so You really need to start reading it too !

Themes, Icons, Wallpapers

Ubuntu is based on GNOME, a user-friendly Desktop Interface for Unix Operating Systems. You can fine many wallpapers, Icons, Themes to start customizing your desktop . GNOME Look is one of the most useful sources to customize your Ubuntu . Lifehacker also have some amazing articles to make your desktop more stylish like The Stylish Ubuntu Desktop Article .

You could maybe workout to get an Ubuntu Desktop Looks like Mac (Not Exactly but looks cool )

Support

Inside Ubuntu Forums, You will find thousands of helpful topics to get you all the support you need like General Help, Installing & Upgrading issues, Hardware, Media & Server Support .

To Solve this issue All you have to do is close Empathy and Go to Terminal and reconfigure pymsn to get work again , just like that :

dpkg-reconfigure python-msn

And then Start Empathy again and your MSN Account will work for you

Source : Launchpad Bug #338891